Trying to install OpenWrt on a Velocloud 520-AC

Well, i found what was causing the loop, i didn't set the flow control to none in putty...
image

now I have the possibility to choose a boot menu with F12

Build date: Apr 26 2018
(re)init TCO watchdog

Press F12 for boot menu.

Searching bootorder for: HALT
Mapping hd drive 0x000f2a10 to 0
drive 0x000f2a10: PCHS=0/0/0 translation=lba LCHS=950/255/63 s=15269888
finalize PMM
malloc finalize
Space available for UMB: c4000-f0000, f0000-f2a10
Returned 249856 bytes of ZoneHigh
e820 map has 8 items:
  0: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009e800 = 1 RAM
  1: 000000000009e800 - 00000000000a0000 = 2 RESERVED
  2: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 = 2 RESERVED
  3: 0000000000100000 - 000000007fbdd000 = 1 RAM
  4: 000000007fbdd000 - 000000007fe00000 = 2 RESERVED
  5: 00000000e0000000 - 00000000f0000000 = 2 RESERVED
  6: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 = 2 RESERVED
  7: 0000000100000000 - 0000000180000000 = 1 RAM
Jump to int19
enter handle_19:
  NULL
Booting from Hard Disk...
Booting from 0000:7c00

So i'm stuck here now, after a few minutes it reboots.

I guess Grub should have been popping up there...

Weird it auto reboots though, watch dog?

something went wrong...
i guess i have to boot with an usb stick with debian and rescue from here...

it couldn't be because it can't find a partition to boot ?

The reboots are most likely caused by the watchdog not being triggered, that is a concern that needs to be tackled - but you should still (first) get grub2 going (yes, even then it will reboot after a few seconds, but seeing the grub2 menu would still be a first partial success).

Maybe your system needs UEFI64, maybe it needs UEFI32, maybe it needs BIOS booting - we don't know at this point (and it's way harder to find out without being able to observe the OEM firmware), but determining this topic of getting grub2 (or any bootloader) working may be easier to debug with a general purpose Linux distribution (e.g. Debian), as OpenWrt's UEFI support is rather new and not as well established and battle tested than that of more common desktop-/ server distributions.

regarding the watchdog, try

modprobe i2c-i801
modprobe i2c-smbus
modprobe iTCO-wdt

and nmi_watchdog=0 was added as a boot switch, taken from here

Is serial port the USB mini-B on the 520 ?

i can't do this, because i can't stop the process, all i can do is hit the F12 key when i'm asked.

i tried to boot from a Debian LiveCD, it didn't work. i just tried now with a debian netinstall, same.
this is the output when i choose the usb key after F12.

Build date: Apr 26 2018
(re)init TCO watchdog

Press F12 for boot menu.

Select boot device:

1. USB MSC Drive Kingston DataTraveler 120 PMAP
2. USB MSC Drive Generic Ultra HS-COMBO 1.98

Searching bootorder for: HALT
Mapping hd drive 0x000f2a10 to 0
drive 0x000f2a10: PCHS=0/0/0 translation=lba LCHS=1024/255/63 s=31375360
Mapping hd drive 0x000f29e0 to 1
drive 0x000f29e0: PCHS=0/0/0 translation=lba LCHS=950/255/63 s=15269888
finalize PMM
malloc finalize
Space available for UMB: c4000-f0000, f0000-f29e0
Returned 249856 bytes of ZoneHigh
e820 map has 8 items:
  0: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009e800 = 1 RAM
  1: 000000000009e800 - 00000000000a0000 = 2 RESERVED
  2: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 = 2 RESERVED
  3: 0000000000100000 - 000000007fbdd000 = 1 RAM
  4: 000000007fbdd000 - 000000007fe00000 = 2 RESERVED
  5: 00000000e0000000 - 00000000f0000000 = 2 RESERVED
  6: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 = 2 RESERVED
  7: 0000000100000000 - 0000000180000000 = 1 RAM
Jump to int19
enter handle_19:
  NULL
Booting from Hard Disk...
Booting from 0000:7c00
enter handle_12:
   a=00000000  b=00000000  c=00000000  d=00000000 ds=0000 es=0000 ss=9000
  si=00000000 di=00000000 bp=00000000 sp=0000fff0 cs=0000 ip=8c2f  f=0000
enter handle_12:
   a=00000200  b=00000000  c=00000000  d=00000000 ds=0000 es=0000 ss=9000
  si=00000000 di=00000000 bp=00000000 sp=0000fff0 cs=0000 ip=8c2f  f=0000

i write the USBkey with RUFUS, in ISO mode...

seems they've managed to bypass it, in the link I posted, might be worth reading the whole thread.

yes !

ok I will read it

What's the voltage, and the pinout ?
I've for two 500s sitting on a shelf :slight_smile:

i'm using an old, simple cable like this :
image

but does the cable have a serial port/UART embedded, as an active component ?
or do I simply hook up the cable to a PC, and it will detect the Velocloud as a serial port ?

sorry for going off topic.

nop, looks like it's embeded in the velocloud, because when i plug the cable my PC detects something
image

yes ! that's it.

cool!

thnx for the info, will try it on my 500s.

you just have to set putty like this :
image

i don't know how they boot from usb with all their distros, it doesn't work for me...so i can't take control of the shell to write a single command...
i'm wondering if my usbkeys are correctly burned with Rufus....

i just tried with a pfsense image on usb, still not working...

Build date: Apr 26 2018
(re)init TCO watchdog

Press F12 for boot menu.

Searching bootorder for: HALT
Mapping hd drive 0x000f2a10 to 0
drive 0x000f2a10: PCHS=0/0/0 translation=lba LCHS=1024/255/63 s=31375360
Mapping hd drive 0x000f29e0 to 1
drive 0x000f29e0: PCHS=0/0/0 translation=lba LCHS=950/255/63 s=15269888
finalize PMM
malloc finalize
Space available for UMB: c4000-f0000, f0000-f29e0
Returned 249856 bytes of ZoneHigh
e820 map has 8 items:
  0: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009e800 = 1 RAM
  1: 000000000009e800 - 00000000000a0000 = 2 RESERVED
  2: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 = 2 RESERVED
  3: 0000000000100000 - 000000007fbdd000 = 1 RAM
  4: 000000007fbdd000 - 000000007fe00000 = 2 RESERVED
  5: 00000000e0000000 - 00000000f0000000 = 2 RESERVED
  6: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 = 2 RESERVED
  7: 0000000100000000 - 0000000180000000 = 1 RAM
Jump to int19
enter handle_19:
  NULL
Booting from Hard Disk...
Booting from 0000:7c00
invalid handle_legacy_disk:696:
   a=00000000  b=00000000  c=00000014  d=00000000 ds=0000 es=6367 ss=9000
  si=00000000 di=00000000 bp=00000000 sp=0000fff0 cs=0000 ip=9345  f=0202
invalid handle_legacy_disk:696:
   a=00001500  b=00000000  c=00000014  d=00000000 ds=0000 es=6367 ss=9000
  si=00000000 di=00000000 bp=00000000 sp=0000fff0 cs=0000 ip=9345  f=0203

The serial worked for me, just the way you described it, thnx! - 115200, N81.

But the 500 runs AMI BIOS, and I'm able to stop the boot process, and get the GRUB boot menu.

image

Processor Type: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU  C2358  @ 1.74GHz
Processor Speed: 1743 MHz
Total Memory: 4096MB (DDR3 1333)

USB Devices total: 0 KBDs, 0 MICE, 0 MASS, 1 HUBs

Detected ATA/ATAPI Devices...
Version 2.16.1242. Copyright (C) 2013 American Megatrends, Inc.
CASwell, Inc. COB-G800-000 Rev.:R1.00 ( 20141209 )
Press <DEL> or <TAB> to enter setup.
Press <B> to enter BBS POPUP.

i tried to boot from a msata ssd, i tried the 3 ports i have, the ssd is not detected...

the output i'm getting with my device, is the output from the Bios (coreboot), isn't it ? yours in your screenshot is the one from the OS ?

if i understand well, i'm stuck in the bios. i can't get any device to boot correctly...